The Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic (1919-1933) was Germany's first truly democratic regime. The republic was founded in the wake of a military defeat, national humiliation, and revolution. It created the basis for political and cultural plurality, but also for anxiety and conflict. The democratic institutions had a weak foundation among the population; the horrors of the First World War, in combination with growing social and political divisions, led to political radicalization.
NSDAP (National Socialist German Workers Party) was founded in 1920 as a racist, anti-Semitic party opposing the Weimar Republic and the treatment of Germany in the Treaty of Versailles. Adolf Hitler led the party built upon the fascist Führer model. After the failed coup d'état in Munich in 1923 the Nazi party was banned for a short while. However, Hitler and his close associates were determined to rebuild the NSDAP into a mass party by gaining political influence through general elections. Following his appointment as Reichskanzler in 1933, Hitler reorganized the German state according to the Führer principle thus destroying the parliamentary system and the democratic institutions.